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TROUBLESOME CREEK LURES
My wife and I had more than a few moments with this excellent offering from Troublesome Creek—we laughed, we got lumps-in-the-throat, we danced—well, we considered dancing...A band that can do all this could only be considered “troublesome” if one were at the desperate point of embracing some music-hating strain of ultra-fundamentalism.
Start with the fiddle, of course. Eastern Kentucky-born Rick Martin, a devoted student of Brad Leftwich’s in Bloomington, Indiana in the ’80s is, like his mentor, a power-hitter possessed of both the requisite snappy bow and fingers well-tuned to the old music…
The singing here, mostly duets from guitarist Dick Harrington and bassist Lorie Lichtenwalner, is first-rate. Harrington is a clear and most soulful lead and Lichtenwalner a resonant alto that would surely get a thumbs’ up from Sara Carter herself. Their harmonies, simply spot-on, are all you’d ask for in this music, from the warm and comfortable Carter Family numbers (“Lonesome Pine Special” and “River of Jordan”) to the flesh-pricking open modality of the riveting Texas Gladden ballads (“Gypsy Davy” and “The Three Babes”).
Need one more good reason to go get this compelling CD? Well, two-and-a-half words: the banjo player. Bluegrass veteran Steve Arkin still dons the picks now and then, but has polished his clawhammering to a high shine for the lion’s share of Troublesome Creek’s repertoire. Appropriately up in the mix, Arkin’s adroit playing achieves that most rare combo of beautiful, intricate melody and absolute pedal-to-the-floor drive—he is every bit the wind in the sails of this band. Fast as Time Can Take Me is well-engineered by Bobby Read… [It] has my highest recommendation.
~ Pete Sutherland, Old Time Herald, Fall 2005
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Composed of four veteran musicians with distinctly differing backgrounds and a shared passion for hard-driving old time music, Troublesome Creek String Band is an exciting ensemble whose continuing delight in traditional forms is very palpable on their debut. While at first they may sound like a relatively orthodox take on the old time stringband tradition, closer listening reveals Troublesome Creek to be blessed with both a solid foundation in classic values of traditional music and their own unique abilities and personalities. At the forefront are the duo vocals of guitarist Dick Harrington and bassist Lorie Lichtenwalner. In a genre marked by (if not defined by) a certain vocal shakiness, their blend is thrillingly precise. They handle closer, brother-duo style harmony of songs like “Midnight on the Stormy Deep” and the more open, modal sounds of “Adieu False Heart” with equal aplomb. Fiddler Rick Martin and banjoist Steve Arkin provide forward momentum and texture with sensitivity and intensity. Arkin, a former bluegrass banjo player, pulls out his finger picks and, in decidedly un-old time fashion, adds some Scruggs-style picking to “River of Jordan” and “The Ballad of Cole Younger.” The combination works so well that one wonders why more old time bands don't do it. The variety and depth demonstrated here make Troublesome Creek a welcome addition to the flourishing old time scene.
~ Brad San Martin, Country Standard Time
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It is rare-and very exciting-to find an old-time band today that has put it all together: great selection of material, fine singing and top flight, dynamic instrumental work. This band, based in Central Virginia, is neither a group of "old-timers" past their prime, nor a young revival band: the four members are middle-aged musicians who love the sounds & styles of the Appalachian Mountain region in days past. They sing and play with authority and a rare combination of skill, taste, humor and good judgment. About half of the 23 tracks feature solid vocals, most of them handled by Dick Harrington (formerly of Afton Mt. String Band) and Lorie Lichtenwalner. Rick Martin, whose strong fiddling leads the group, traces his childhood to Troublesome Creek in Eastern Kentucky (Perry County), though he learned to play the music after moving away from his birthplace. He has made it a point to try to learn some of the great tunes from Eastern Kentucky the way the great fiddlers of yesteryear played them. He is supported by some fine banjo picking from none other than Brooklyn-born Steve Arkin, whose strong work here includes both old-time and Bluegrass style (mostly the former). Those old enough to have seen Bill Monroe's band in the 1960s may remember seeing Arkin as a Bluegrass Boy in 1964. Monroe was quoted as calling Arkin "the best banjo player [he] ever had for backup work.” Beautifully sequenced, this is a great album that we can endorse without reservation.
~ Dave Freeman, County Sales Newsletter #273
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[Five Stars] Flat out, no questions, no doubt about it, this is a one-hundred-percent perfect old-timey string band album. The picking is understated and delightful, the vocals have just the right mix of antiquity and good humor, the song selection tilts towards the traditional, and the pacing of the set is flawless; I could listen to this record for days on end and never grow tired...If I sound effusive, that's because I am. These folks--banjoist Steve Arkin, fiddler Rick Martin, guitarist Dick Harrington and bassist Lorie Lichtenwalner--don't make a big deal out of being one of the best damn bands you'll ever hear; they just play with an obvious love of the music and let the tunes take care of everything else. They tip their hats towards eminent old timers like Brad Leftwich and Dirk Powell (Martin studied fiddling with guidance from Leftwich) and they do their mentors proud. Some purists might find these performances too smooth and not “bent”' enough, but I think it all sounds really fine. An entertaining, accessible album, drenched in tradition, but very much vibrant and alive in the here and now. Highly recommended.
~ Joe Sixpack, Amazon.com
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Troublesome Creek is an outstanding band that not only nicely showcases Rick Martin's fiddling, but brings their own impressive talents to the table as well. With Steve Arkin on banjo, Dick Harrington on guitar, and Lorie Lichtenwalner on bass, there's not a weak instrumentalist in the band. But there's more: I'm especially pleased to hear their emphasis on vocals, notably the strong duet harmonies sung by Dick and Lorie, which distinguishes Troublesome Creek as more than just a 'tune' band. Excellent fiddling, tight instrumentals, and strong vocals--this is a band that serves it up hot, and I'm delighted to see them finally open for business." *
Unlike many bands on the scene these days, when so many talented young performers are finding their way to old-time music, Troublesome Creek consists of, well, old-timers: four musical veterans--actually, middle-aged--around long enough to have absorbed the tradition into bone and bloodstream. While thoroughly traditional in their approach, they sound anything but redundant. This is old Southern folk music which feels as vital as it did a century ago when Appalachian highlands and lowlands echoed with sounds of fiddles, banjos, and guitars.
You hear it on the very first cut as Rick Martin tears into the medley “Yell in the Shoats/Piney Ridge,” a bold, full-bodied tone dancing out of his fiddle. Most of the instrumental pieces on the album (every one a gem), are native to Martin's Kentucky. The songs draw from a wider range of sources, including the Anglo-Celtic-Northern European tradition chronicled in Prof. Francis James Child's influential late-19th-century collection The English and Scottish Popular Ballads: the ubiquitous “Gypsy Davy” (albeit in distinctive form) and “The Three Babes” (aka “The Wife of Usher's Well”). There is a wonderfully affecting reading of “I'm Going to the West,” believed to have originated in Alabama in the 1830s, though the title speaks to the restless, determining experience of all of early America, resonating even into our own time in our modern, no-longer-quite-so-young nation.
Besides Martin, the band members are Steve Arkin (banjo), Dick Harrington (guitar, vocals), and Lori Lichtenwalner (bass, vocals). All have been playing old-time music and bluegrass all of their adult lives.
The generous 26 selections are intelligently chosen and expertly handled. Much of the material is new to my ear, but even the more often covered songs – “Danville Girl” and “Little Sadie,” for two - are set in larger arrangements than the solo treatments on the source recordings (Dock Boggs and Clarence Ashley in this instance). “When First Unto This Country”and “The Ballad of Cole Younger,” two authentic, unsentimental ballads of frontier criminality, get particularly compelling readings.
Let's put it this way: If the old mountain sounds are to your taste, Fast as Time Will Take Me will take its time departing your CD player. If that's a definition of “troublesome,” let me be troubled. In fact, the Troublesomes are serving up something like sheer timeless joy.
~ Jerome Clark, Bluegrass Works, 07/13/2005
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Judging by the liner notes, this quartet knows everybody on the old-time music festival scene. Their super tight arrangements, drive and repertoire reflect this, with many songs learned from other old-time musicians. These guys respect the past, but add their own thing. Some nice out-of-the-way tunes can be found here, such as "Sweet Marie," from Kentucky and Carter Family gems like "River of Jordan." Good playing.
~ Paul Gartner, The Gazz
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Troublesome Creek is named for a creek near Rick Martin’s family home in Kentucky. Banjo player Stevee Arkin is from New York and played with Bill Monroe in the summer of 1964, but has been devoting his attention to oldtime for more than a decade. Dick Harrington (guitar) is from the Midwest but now lives in Virginia. Lorie Lichetenwalner (bass) also lives in Virginia. Despite their diverse origins and habitats, they form a tight and driving string band. Liz Toffey plays banjo-uke on fove cuts.
The recording opens with Rick’s solo fiddling on “Yell in the Shoats,” where he is gradually joined by the other band members who then medley with William Stepp’s “Piney Ridge.” Next they showcase their vocal abilities with “River of Jordan.” There are a generous 23 songs and tunes, all documented in detail and performed with loving attention to detail and getting every note and nuance just right. Some are well known, many are not, such as “Walk Along John to Kansas,” “Ten Steps”’”Little Mary Marshall,” and Rockbridge Blues” (an original tune by Rick), medleyed with Hiram Stamper’s “Brushy Fork of John’s Creek.” “Troublesome Creek” is another of Rick’s tunes that nicely follows “Possum up a Simmon Tree.”
The heart of this band, as it should be, is the rock-solid rhythmic and melodic interplay of fiddle an dbanjo, built on a steady guitr/bass bedrock. Rick Martin’s fiddling is both powerful and emotional, and Steve Arkin’s banjo playing is solid and supportive. They are equally good at playing tunes and accompanying songs. Martin plays a droning fiddle on fTexas Gladden’s “The Three Babes,” and Dick’s and Lorie’s harmonies are exquisite. Rick and Dick sing together on Dock Boggs’s “Danville Girl” against Steve’s solo banjo. The CD closes with “Sweet Marie,” and this is indeed, some very sweet oldtime muysic that belongs in your CD player.
~SAG, Bluegrass Unlimited, December 2005
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Sometimes a band is so ready to record that the music virtually leaps from the speakers. Troublesome Creek is just such a band. It is comprised of veteran old-time musicians Rick Martin, fiddle and vocals; Steve Arkin, banjo; Dick Harrington, guitar and vocals; and Lorie Lichtenwalner, bass and vocals.
Frequently old-time string band recordings become somewhat tedious affairs with lots of dance tunes and a few vocals seemingly intended for those listeners already in the old-time choir. Troublesome Creek is the exception as the band breaks into solos, duets and trios to produce a recording with a highly developed sense of entertainment over the course of 23 tracks.
Fast As Time Can Take Me opens with a fiery medley of “Yell in the Shoats/Piney Ridge.” It becomes apparent from this first selection that the band has done their homework as they cite both recent and classic sources for almost every selection. This will please the hardcore old-time fan always searching for the source recordings.
Arranging is seldom a strong point with old-time string bands, but with the second selection we are treated to a short introduction of Bill Stepp’s “Welcome Table” followed by the Carter Family classic “River of Jordan,” which includes “welcome table” in the lyric. Great idea! Another highlight is the duet vocal of Dick and Lorie over Steve’s banjo accompaniment of the Texas Gladden version of the ancient ballad “Gypsy Davy.” Rick contributes original fiddle tune “Rockbridge Blues” paired with “Brushy Fork of John’s Creek from the playing of Hiram and Art Stamper. Seldom has an original tune fared so well against a classic.
I am afraid I’ve only hinted at the treasures included in Fast AS Time Can Take Me and the quality of the Troublesome Creek String Band. This is simply a great recording from an exciting group of players.
~ T.D., Sing Out, Winter 2006
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